One of the most important tools that a filmmaker has are his/her notes.

I was raised as a Catholic, but I didn't like the Catholic Church at all. I thought the nuns were mean.

I have much to learn from my daughter Sofia. Her minimalism exposes my limitations: I'm too instinctive and operatic, I put too much heart into my work, I get lost sometimes in bizarre things - it's my Italian heritage.

I landed a job with Roger Corman. The job was to write the English dialogue for a Russian science fiction picture. I didn't speak any Russian. He didn't care whether I could understand what they were saying; he wanted me to make up dialogue.

So much of the art of film is to do less. To aspire to do less.

Some critics are stimulating in that they make you realise how you could do better, and those are valued.

They needed someone to write a script of The Great Gatsby very quickly for the movie they were making. I took this job so I'd be sure to have some dough to support my family.